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Photography.—Second memoir on a new action of light
336
.Mechanics, Physics, and Chemistry.
the separate revolving of the rollers upon the outside of the same, regardless of where the main shaft m a y be placed, studs forming supports for the inking and impression apparatus. 4th, T h e arrangement of the gauge guides, pawl, cranks, and rod, pin, and wheels, in combination with the shears for cutting off the sheet after it is printed, and the cam from which it receives its motion." 7. For an Improvement in Safety Indicators for Steam Boilers; Lucius J. Knowles, Warren, Massachusetts ; patented Feb. 10, 1857 ; re-issued Feb. 23, 1858. Claim.--" T h e arrangement of the vessels as applied and connected with the feed pumps and steam whistle, for the purpose of regulating the pump and sounding an alarm. Also, connecting the pipe with the boiler, by means of the feed pipe." 8. For an Improvement in Billiard Cues; Conrad Leicht, City of :New York; patented May 27, 1856 ; re-issued Feb. 23, 1858. Claim . . . . My mode of providing cue tops or the cues with screws, and adjusting them to each other." 9. For an Improvement in Carding Machines: Stephen R. Parkhurst, City of New York; patented June 20, 1848 ; re-issued Feb. 23, 1858. Claim.--" T h e application of the steel ring, toothed cylinder or cylinders, to act as combers, worker, or doffers, in combination with common wire tooth carding, for the purpose of quicker and more effectively opening wool and other fibrous materials." DEsmxs. 1. For Stove Plates; Edward J. Delany and John Martino, Assignors to Cresson, Stuart & Peterson, Philadelphia, P e n n s y l v a n i a ; dated Feb. 16, 1858. 2. For Handles of Spoons, ~c.; Henry Hebbard and J o h n Polhamus, City of New York; dated Feb. 16, 1858. :3. For Tables for Sewing Machines; S. F. Pratt, Roxbury, Massachusetts; dated Feb. 16, 1858. 4. For Compass ,Stands; E. A. Turtle and T h o m a s Barry, City of .New York; dated Feb. 23, 1858. 5. For Tea and Coffee Pots; Allen Leonard, Assignor to Rogers Brothers Manufacturing Co., Hartibrd, Connecticut; dated Feb. 23, 1858. 6. For Stove Plates; N. S. Vedder and Ezra Ripley, Assignors to Louis Potter, Troy, :New York ; dated Feb. 23, 1858. T h e claims on the above, are for the several shapes, forms, ornaments, and configurations.
MECHANICS, PHYSICS, AND CHEMISTRY. Translated fi)r the Journal of the Franklin Institute.
Photography.--Second .Memoir on a new ./tction of Light. By M. NmrcE DE SAINT-VIcTOR.
There are two ways of exhibiting the new action exerted by light upon the bodies struck by it. The first, that which I have described in my first memoir,* consists in exposing to the sun, or even to the diffused light of day, a design, an engraving for instance, which is then laid upon a sensitive paper prepared with chloride of silver. The second way, which I am about to describe, is still more conclusive. Take a sheet of paper, which has heretofore remained in the dark; cover it with a photographic negative either on glass or on paper ; ex_ pose it to the sun's rays for a time, longer or shorter according to the intensity of the light ; bring it back into the darkness ; remove the nega. " See Journal of the Franklin Institute, page 50, of the present volume.
Photography.~ On a aYew a~aion of Light.
337
tire which covers it, and treat it with nitrate of silver • there will then be seen in a short time an image which may be fixed by well washing it in pure water. If it is desired to procure an image more rapid in its development, and more luminous, the sheet of paper must be first impregnated with a substance which undergoes in a higher degree the luminous action referred to in the former memoir, a storing up (emmagasinement), if we may so express it, with a persistence of luminous activity. A very efficacious substance of this kind is an aqueous solution of the nitrate of uranium, obtained either bytreating the oxide of uranium by dilute nitric acid, or by dissolving the crystals of the salt in water. The sheet of paper should be so far impregnated with the uranivm salt as to have a perceptible straw-yellow tint ; it is to be dried and kept in the dark. When it is desired to experiment, it is covered with a negative, exposed to the sun for about a quarter of an hour, brought back to the dark, treated with nitrate of silver ; and you will instantly see a very strong positive image appear, with the chestnut color of ordinary proofs; to fix it, it is sufficient to immerse it in pure water ; the water dissolves all the, salt of uranium, which, protected by the shadows of the negative, has not received the action of the light, and the image is fixed. If after having well rinsed the proof, it is desired to change it to black, you have but to treat it with the commercial solution of chloride of gold. The same result may be obtained in the'following manner : immediately after the exposure to the light, pass the proof into a solution of bicl,loride of mercury ; leave it there only a few moments, but rather longer or shorter, according to the time of exposure, which must be three times as long as in the former case ; rinse it in pure water, azid treat it with a solution of nitrate of silver, in which it is to be left until the image is entirely developed, with fine tones of ebony-black; then rinse it in pure water in order to fix it. If after the insolation or exposure to the sun, a solution of chloride of gold is substituted for the developing solution of nitrate of silver, the image will be found to appear instantaneously of a very intense blue ; it may also be fixed by washing in pure water. Negatives may also be obtained by placing in the camera, a sheet of paper impregnated with nitrate of silver. But, in the present state of things, this process is very slow, and can only be used for taking views of buildings. I have coated slips of card-board with a number of different substances, and have obtained very variable results. With some, the difference of the impression on the part which had been insolated anti that which had not been, when both were treated with a solution of nitrate of silver, was very great ; with others, the difference was scarcely sensible : and for some it is not at all appreciable ; yet they are rapidly influenced by light. In the first category I will cite: citric and oxalic acid, sulphate or alumina, citrate of iron, the iodides and bromides, arsenious acid, the neutral tartrate of potassa, lactic acid, and the animal skin, which partici~ pates in the properties of the salts of uraniiam, and of tartaric acid. In the second category : the sulphate of quinine, the tinctures of n e t VOL. XXXV.--THIRD 'SERIES.~0. 5.~]~IAY, 1858.
29
2dechanics~ Physics, and Chemistry. ties (chlorophylle), of the seeds of datura stramonium, and of curcuraa, the infusion in cold water of the bark of horse-chestnuts (esculine), sugar, collodion, gelatine, and starch (empois). 338
, I have, however, perfectly established, that the bodies which best preserve the actL'ity given them by insolation, are, with the exception of the salts of uranium, those which are the least disposed to fluores-
cence.
In the third category : lhe chlorides, the acetate of morphine, and the phosphate of ammonia, which, under the developing action of nitrate of silver, gives very handsome black tones; prussic acid, the quinate of lime and morphine, which give chestnut-browns. The experiments which I have described in this memoir show, I think, in the clearest manner, that light communicates to certain substances a r&al activity; vr better, that certain bodies have the property of storingup light in a state of persistent acti¥ity. The quantity of persisting ae~i~ity is greater or less according to the nature of the substance, the longer or shorter duration of the exposure, the atmospheric circumstances, &c. It has its limits ; that is, there is for each substance a maximum of activity, and when this has been obtained, prolonged insolation adds nothing to it. A body made active by insolation, preserves its power of acting upon the salts of gold or silver, for more than a day in the dark and open air. It will finally lose that property, but it may be restored to it by a new insolatios ; provided always the substance has not been altered ~r modified in its chemical composition, as for instance, the iodides and bromides are. The paper impregnated with the nitrate of uranium presents a remarkable property; it becomes colored under the influence of light ; then in the clark discolors in a day or two, and then becomes re-colored ; it reduces the salts of gold and silver whenever it is colored. The persistent activity communicated to a body by ligh~ is exerted not only on the salts of gold and silver, but on several organic and inorganic bodies which light affects or modifies by its direct action. Thus, a body rendered active by insolation will transmit that activity by contact and in the dark to another body, tartaric acid for instance. The bichromate of potassa becomes, under the same influence, insoluble in water, as it would become by exposure to the sun ; but the heliographie varnish made with bitumen of Judzea and guyae resin resist the persistent activity of paper impregnated with salts of uranium or tartaric acid, and insolated. I propose to examine in subsequent experiments whether the persist: eat activity wilt determine the combination of ehlor'ine and hydrogen ; whether it can be acquired in a luminous vacuum, &e., &c. An engraving moistened and insolated reproduces itself very well upon sensitive paper, but if it is covered by some millimetres of water, it ks not reproduced, even in a solution of a salt of uranium or tartaric acid. Gelatine mixed with a salt of ur~ium, and exposed to the light, becomes insoluble, as if it had been mixed with bichromate of potassa. I have established this remarkable fact, that the lights of an engraving impregnated with a salt of uranium, or~f tartaric acid, and insolated,
Experiments on the Form of Bdlows .Nozzles.
339
will impress themselves very well on sensitive paper prepared ~vith chloride of silver, while the shades leave not the slightest trace of action. The same is the case with a drawing with an aqueous ink, and a sheet of paper covered with lamp-black. It will be curious to study the action of the solar spectrum on a piece of card-board impregnated with tartaric acid, which is not fluorescent, or does not become luminous by exposure to the ultra-violet or invisible rays ; which rays will, after insolation, impress their image most strongly, the more or less re- • frangible ? Experiment must answer. The photographic proofs which I have the honor to present to the Academy (of Sciences, of Paris), were made by M. Victor P}umier, a very skilful photographer ; he succeeded at the first attempt, in the application of my new process for the impression of positives, which leads me to hope that this process may enter without trouble into practice, and will constitute a progress which has been greatly desired. It would be perhaps gratifying, if in conclusion I should point out a mode for the reproduction of engravings, by means of the vapor of phosphorus, which, as I stated in my memoir published in 1847, have the property of collecting and condensing upon the shadows to the exclusion of the lights. The engraving to be copied is exposed to the vapors of phosphorus burning slowly in the air, the shadows only absorb the vapors ; a sheet of sensitive paper prepared with chloride of silver is applied ; after a contact for a quarter of an hour, the engraving is imprinted upon the paper with phosphuret of silver, which, when strong enough, resists the action of dilute chemical agents. The best mode of operating, consists in placing the engraving in a box in front of a sheet of paste-board, covering one side of the box whose surface has been sufficiently rubbed with a stick of phosphorus, the paste-board must be re-rubbed for each operation ; for if the phosphorus is red it produces no effect. A sheet of water of a centimetre (0"4 inch), or more in thickness, does not stop the deposition or action of the vapors of phosphorus. The action is exerted on the sensitive paper even through india-paper; that is to say, that if an engraving on india-paper is laid upon a sheet of sensitive paper, and these placed together in the box in face of the phosphorescent wall, a negative image of the engraving will be obtained, as if the shadows had behaved like a screen, and the lights had allowed the vapors to pass through and impress the sensitive paper. Only if the exposure be too long prolonged, the shadows will also impress their image, and this will even prevail over the ground. The vapor of sulphur produces analogous effects, and gires an image or reproduction of the engraving drawn in sulphuret of silver; but this image is not stable.~Cosmos, March, 1858~ p. "268. For the Journal of the Franklin Institute.
Experiments on the Form of Bellows .Nozzles, made at the Smithsonian Institute, June, 1855. By THOM.a.SEWBANK. From the earliest times, the nozzles of blowing apparatus have been tapered towards the vent, for the purpose of concentrating the blast. Are there circumstances under which a different form may be usefully
.Mechanics, Physics, and Chemistry.
the separate revolving of the rollers upon the outside of the same, regardless of where the main shaft m a y be placed, studs forming supports for the inking and impression apparatus. 4th, T h e arrangement of the gauge guides, pawl, cranks, and rod, pin, and wheels, in combination with the shears for cutting off the sheet after it is printed, and the cam from which it receives its motion." 7. For an Improvement in Safety Indicators for Steam Boilers; Lucius J. Knowles, Warren, Massachusetts ; patented Feb. 10, 1857 ; re-issued Feb. 23, 1858. Claim.--" T h e arrangement of the vessels as applied and connected with the feed pumps and steam whistle, for the purpose of regulating the pump and sounding an alarm. Also, connecting the pipe with the boiler, by means of the feed pipe." 8. For an Improvement in Billiard Cues; Conrad Leicht, City of :New York; patented May 27, 1856 ; re-issued Feb. 23, 1858. Claim . . . . My mode of providing cue tops or the cues with screws, and adjusting them to each other." 9. For an Improvement in Carding Machines: Stephen R. Parkhurst, City of New York; patented June 20, 1848 ; re-issued Feb. 23, 1858. Claim.--" T h e application of the steel ring, toothed cylinder or cylinders, to act as combers, worker, or doffers, in combination with common wire tooth carding, for the purpose of quicker and more effectively opening wool and other fibrous materials." DEsmxs. 1. For Stove Plates; Edward J. Delany and John Martino, Assignors to Cresson, Stuart & Peterson, Philadelphia, P e n n s y l v a n i a ; dated Feb. 16, 1858. 2. For Handles of Spoons, ~c.; Henry Hebbard and J o h n Polhamus, City of New York; dated Feb. 16, 1858. :3. For Tables for Sewing Machines; S. F. Pratt, Roxbury, Massachusetts; dated Feb. 16, 1858. 4. For Compass ,Stands; E. A. Turtle and T h o m a s Barry, City of .New York; dated Feb. 23, 1858. 5. For Tea and Coffee Pots; Allen Leonard, Assignor to Rogers Brothers Manufacturing Co., Hartibrd, Connecticut; dated Feb. 23, 1858. 6. For Stove Plates; N. S. Vedder and Ezra Ripley, Assignors to Louis Potter, Troy, :New York ; dated Feb. 23, 1858. T h e claims on the above, are for the several shapes, forms, ornaments, and configurations.
MECHANICS, PHYSICS, AND CHEMISTRY. Translated fi)r the Journal of the Franklin Institute.
Photography.--Second .Memoir on a new ./tction of Light. By M. NmrcE DE SAINT-VIcTOR.
There are two ways of exhibiting the new action exerted by light upon the bodies struck by it. The first, that which I have described in my first memoir,* consists in exposing to the sun, or even to the diffused light of day, a design, an engraving for instance, which is then laid upon a sensitive paper prepared with chloride of silver. The second way, which I am about to describe, is still more conclusive. Take a sheet of paper, which has heretofore remained in the dark; cover it with a photographic negative either on glass or on paper ; ex_ pose it to the sun's rays for a time, longer or shorter according to the intensity of the light ; bring it back into the darkness ; remove the nega. " See Journal of the Franklin Institute, page 50, of the present volume.
Photography.~ On a aYew a~aion of Light.
337
tire which covers it, and treat it with nitrate of silver • there will then be seen in a short time an image which may be fixed by well washing it in pure water. If it is desired to procure an image more rapid in its development, and more luminous, the sheet of paper must be first impregnated with a substance which undergoes in a higher degree the luminous action referred to in the former memoir, a storing up (emmagasinement), if we may so express it, with a persistence of luminous activity. A very efficacious substance of this kind is an aqueous solution of the nitrate of uranium, obtained either bytreating the oxide of uranium by dilute nitric acid, or by dissolving the crystals of the salt in water. The sheet of paper should be so far impregnated with the uranivm salt as to have a perceptible straw-yellow tint ; it is to be dried and kept in the dark. When it is desired to experiment, it is covered with a negative, exposed to the sun for about a quarter of an hour, brought back to the dark, treated with nitrate of silver ; and you will instantly see a very strong positive image appear, with the chestnut color of ordinary proofs; to fix it, it is sufficient to immerse it in pure water ; the water dissolves all the, salt of uranium, which, protected by the shadows of the negative, has not received the action of the light, and the image is fixed. If after having well rinsed the proof, it is desired to change it to black, you have but to treat it with the commercial solution of chloride of gold. The same result may be obtained in the'following manner : immediately after the exposure to the light, pass the proof into a solution of bicl,loride of mercury ; leave it there only a few moments, but rather longer or shorter, according to the time of exposure, which must be three times as long as in the former case ; rinse it in pure water, azid treat it with a solution of nitrate of silver, in which it is to be left until the image is entirely developed, with fine tones of ebony-black; then rinse it in pure water in order to fix it. If after the insolation or exposure to the sun, a solution of chloride of gold is substituted for the developing solution of nitrate of silver, the image will be found to appear instantaneously of a very intense blue ; it may also be fixed by washing in pure water. Negatives may also be obtained by placing in the camera, a sheet of paper impregnated with nitrate of silver. But, in the present state of things, this process is very slow, and can only be used for taking views of buildings. I have coated slips of card-board with a number of different substances, and have obtained very variable results. With some, the difference of the impression on the part which had been insolated anti that which had not been, when both were treated with a solution of nitrate of silver, was very great ; with others, the difference was scarcely sensible : and for some it is not at all appreciable ; yet they are rapidly influenced by light. In the first category I will cite: citric and oxalic acid, sulphate or alumina, citrate of iron, the iodides and bromides, arsenious acid, the neutral tartrate of potassa, lactic acid, and the animal skin, which partici~ pates in the properties of the salts of uraniiam, and of tartaric acid. In the second category : the sulphate of quinine, the tinctures of n e t VOL. XXXV.--THIRD 'SERIES.~0. 5.~]~IAY, 1858.
29
2dechanics~ Physics, and Chemistry. ties (chlorophylle), of the seeds of datura stramonium, and of curcuraa, the infusion in cold water of the bark of horse-chestnuts (esculine), sugar, collodion, gelatine, and starch (empois). 338
, I have, however, perfectly established, that the bodies which best preserve the actL'ity given them by insolation, are, with the exception of the salts of uranium, those which are the least disposed to fluores-
cence.
In the third category : lhe chlorides, the acetate of morphine, and the phosphate of ammonia, which, under the developing action of nitrate of silver, gives very handsome black tones; prussic acid, the quinate of lime and morphine, which give chestnut-browns. The experiments which I have described in this memoir show, I think, in the clearest manner, that light communicates to certain substances a r&al activity; vr better, that certain bodies have the property of storingup light in a state of persistent acti¥ity. The quantity of persisting ae~i~ity is greater or less according to the nature of the substance, the longer or shorter duration of the exposure, the atmospheric circumstances, &c. It has its limits ; that is, there is for each substance a maximum of activity, and when this has been obtained, prolonged insolation adds nothing to it. A body made active by insolation, preserves its power of acting upon the salts of gold or silver, for more than a day in the dark and open air. It will finally lose that property, but it may be restored to it by a new insolatios ; provided always the substance has not been altered ~r modified in its chemical composition, as for instance, the iodides and bromides are. The paper impregnated with the nitrate of uranium presents a remarkable property; it becomes colored under the influence of light ; then in the clark discolors in a day or two, and then becomes re-colored ; it reduces the salts of gold and silver whenever it is colored. The persistent activity communicated to a body by ligh~ is exerted not only on the salts of gold and silver, but on several organic and inorganic bodies which light affects or modifies by its direct action. Thus, a body rendered active by insolation will transmit that activity by contact and in the dark to another body, tartaric acid for instance. The bichromate of potassa becomes, under the same influence, insoluble in water, as it would become by exposure to the sun ; but the heliographie varnish made with bitumen of Judzea and guyae resin resist the persistent activity of paper impregnated with salts of uranium or tartaric acid, and insolated. I propose to examine in subsequent experiments whether the persist: eat activity wilt determine the combination of ehlor'ine and hydrogen ; whether it can be acquired in a luminous vacuum, &e., &c. An engraving moistened and insolated reproduces itself very well upon sensitive paper, but if it is covered by some millimetres of water, it ks not reproduced, even in a solution of a salt of uranium or tartaric acid. Gelatine mixed with a salt of ur~ium, and exposed to the light, becomes insoluble, as if it had been mixed with bichromate of potassa. I have established this remarkable fact, that the lights of an engraving impregnated with a salt of uranium, or~f tartaric acid, and insolated,
Experiments on the Form of Bdlows .Nozzles.
339
will impress themselves very well on sensitive paper prepared ~vith chloride of silver, while the shades leave not the slightest trace of action. The same is the case with a drawing with an aqueous ink, and a sheet of paper covered with lamp-black. It will be curious to study the action of the solar spectrum on a piece of card-board impregnated with tartaric acid, which is not fluorescent, or does not become luminous by exposure to the ultra-violet or invisible rays ; which rays will, after insolation, impress their image most strongly, the more or less re- • frangible ? Experiment must answer. The photographic proofs which I have the honor to present to the Academy (of Sciences, of Paris), were made by M. Victor P}umier, a very skilful photographer ; he succeeded at the first attempt, in the application of my new process for the impression of positives, which leads me to hope that this process may enter without trouble into practice, and will constitute a progress which has been greatly desired. It would be perhaps gratifying, if in conclusion I should point out a mode for the reproduction of engravings, by means of the vapor of phosphorus, which, as I stated in my memoir published in 1847, have the property of collecting and condensing upon the shadows to the exclusion of the lights. The engraving to be copied is exposed to the vapors of phosphorus burning slowly in the air, the shadows only absorb the vapors ; a sheet of sensitive paper prepared with chloride of silver is applied ; after a contact for a quarter of an hour, the engraving is imprinted upon the paper with phosphuret of silver, which, when strong enough, resists the action of dilute chemical agents. The best mode of operating, consists in placing the engraving in a box in front of a sheet of paste-board, covering one side of the box whose surface has been sufficiently rubbed with a stick of phosphorus, the paste-board must be re-rubbed for each operation ; for if the phosphorus is red it produces no effect. A sheet of water of a centimetre (0"4 inch), or more in thickness, does not stop the deposition or action of the vapors of phosphorus. The action is exerted on the sensitive paper even through india-paper; that is to say, that if an engraving on india-paper is laid upon a sheet of sensitive paper, and these placed together in the box in face of the phosphorescent wall, a negative image of the engraving will be obtained, as if the shadows had behaved like a screen, and the lights had allowed the vapors to pass through and impress the sensitive paper. Only if the exposure be too long prolonged, the shadows will also impress their image, and this will even prevail over the ground. The vapor of sulphur produces analogous effects, and gires an image or reproduction of the engraving drawn in sulphuret of silver; but this image is not stable.~Cosmos, March, 1858~ p. "268. For the Journal of the Franklin Institute.
Experiments on the Form of Bellows .Nozzles, made at the Smithsonian Institute, June, 1855. By THOM.a.SEWBANK. From the earliest times, the nozzles of blowing apparatus have been tapered towards the vent, for the purpose of concentrating the blast. Are there circumstances under which a different form may be usefully